In the interim order, TDSAT said no penalty will be levied on telecom operators for not complying with the new norms for tariff reporting
Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on Tuesday gave an interim stay, though in few clauses, to operators including Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular on their pleas against telecom regulator Trai's ruling on tariff principles.
In the interim order, TDSAT said no penalty will be levied on telecom operators for not complying with the new norms for tariff reporting. It also stayed the new definition of 'Significant Market Player' as described by Trai.
"…the clauses in the impunged order related to the reporting requirement and definition of SMP are stayed....This interim arrangement shall continue until further orders in this regard," the TDSAT order said.
TDSAT order said Trai will be entitled to ask for the details of segmented discounts or concessions offered to subscribers for analysis and no penalty shall be imposed on that basis till further orders are given in the ongoing appeals by Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular.
In February, Trai had said the definition of significant market power (SMP) for the purpose of predatory pricing would now be based on just subscriber base and gross revenue as against subscriber base, turnover, switching capacity and volume of traffic earlier.
Trai's new rules had said in case of violation of tariff reporting requirements, an operator can be penalised Rs 5,000 for every day of delay, subject to a maximum of Rs 2 lakh fine. As per the new rules, operators are required to report any new tariffs to Trai within seven working days from the date of their implementation. Even all the tariffs need to be displayed on company's website.
Many norms were contested by operators in the TDSAT.
On April 2, TDSAT had given a temporary relief to Airtel in responding to the regulator's queries, including circle-wise launch date of these segmented tariffs and others.
The new norms require every concession or discount offered be treated as a fresh tariff plan. "Since the number of permitted tariff plans is only 25, it is bound to invite penalty for alleged violation of the said limit of 25 plans at any point of time," the TDSAT order said.
According to Trai, discounts, rebates and waivers when applied to a tariff would give rise to a new and distinct tariff meaning the offer of a discount is effectively the offer of a new tariff. This was also contested by operators.
While Airtel and Idea challenged the order in TDSAT, Vodafone moved the Madras high court.
INTERIM RELIEF
In the interim order, TDSAT said no penalty will be levied on telecom operators for not complying with the new norms for tariff reporting. It stayed new definition of ‘Significant Market Player’ given by Trai.
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